In 1681 the dodo died
And the red rail also soon disappeared
These flightless birds had evolved with no fright
Of humans, for historically unheard
And unseen were we on Mauritius, weird
Though it seems, and so these birds grew gentle
And large, the red rail making tasty food
The dodo less so, yet its survival
Was hampered by imported animals
The pigs who smelled nests dodo's didn't hide
No predators had meant they had not feared
Other creatures eating their eggs. Awful
Impact on their species, extinct, now spied
Only in sketches, bones and written word
I went to Mauritius a couple of years ago. Yes I heard it was the pigs who had wiped them out. I have a song written from the point of view of the Dodo in fact, it's called 'Nine of us were sent to Amsterdam'!
ReplyDeleteYes, there were quite a few Dutch sketches of the dodo's. It's a shame they didn't breed them abroad.
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